Are Wind Turbines Too Big?

Guest Blog | October 22, 2014 | Reports and Fact Sheets
New wind turbine technology is a game changer for wind energy opportunities in the Southeast. In just five years, wind turbines have greatly evolved to be more suitable across the region. Taller turbines and longer blades are capable of capturing more wind, which results in harnessing more electricity and reducing costs. One modern wind turbine can power approximately 600 homes a year!

But, are these new wind turbines too big?

This is one of the most commonly used arguments by anti-wind energy activists. Yet, unlike conventional power plants, wind energy is a clean, renewable source of electricity that requires no water to operate and emits no air pollution. And while tall, modern wind turbines often coexist with many other farming activities on the land including cattle grazing, crop production and even tourism.

We’ll refute this argument once and for all by making a fair comparison of the size of a wind turbine with other electricity sources. Lets pretend wind turbines were replaced in the shape and form by coal. In our fact sheet below, we decided to call these fictitious power plants “coalbines.” How do wind turbines and “coalbines” compare? See our fact sheet below for the results!

Wind Turbines vs. Coalbines pdf

Want to see more of this? Download our extended infograph version here.

Stay tuned as we continue this series and compare a wind turbine to “nuclearbines” and “natural gasbines.”